


hachiko

by speakingincode



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mangaka, Don't Worry About It, M/M, akiteru is a mangaka, also akiteru and tsukishima share an apartment but live away from their family, also yama and tsukishima are both in university, it's like an internship, tsukishima lives there, yama is his assistant, yama works part-time and is an aspiring mangaka
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 18:10:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12989658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speakingincode/pseuds/speakingincode
Summary: One day, Tsukishima walks into his apartment to find a gangly boy at his kitchen sink anxiously scrubbing an ink stain off his forearm. For a reason he can't quite put his finger on, he can't bring himself to be mean to him.Akiteru hires him to help him work on his manga, and Tsukishima's life gets a little harder.





	hachiko

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be written for tsukkiyama month. _i know._ but i didn't really follow the prompt anyway (day 29: manga artists) so i guess it's alright. happy tsukkiyama day, anyway.
> 
> the premise of this is that akiteru is a sports mangaka (he's actually writing haikyuu!! and that's why we can't figure out who furudate is) and yamaguchi is the plucky aspiring mangaka from the nearby art college that he hired to help him draw. Tsukishima Is Also There.
> 
> this is gonna end up being a university au more than anything but they go to different universities so i don't know if that counts? also it won't be that long. i'm gonna chill on this one. just five short chapters.
> 
> also, if you read limitation, i didn't give up on those epilogues! i just wanna do the story justice and right now i don't have time. this is just some self-indulgent stuff for stress relief.

Kei's fishing his keys out of the side pocket of his bag when he notices the gangly boy pacing by the door of his apartment. Ah... Ya... Yamato is his name? That isn't quite right... Yama.... Something. When they met last week, he couldn't be bothered to care much about his name, or... anything, really. Maybe he should regret that now, but it's not like his opinion's changed much since then, anyway.

This person in particular... Even though when they'd met, he'd only been one of a series of strangers Kei was running into in his apartment, when Akiteru chose him for his assistant, he talked to Kei endlessly about his pros and cons. Kei only half-listened, but he got the gist of it. Something about not being the most technically talented, but Akiteru liked his attitude, and besides, that enthusiasm was kind of cute, right?

Cute... Looking at the boy now, with his hesitant smile and the way he fumbles with his cell phone, Kei knows it isn't the right word. Something along the lines of vulnerable would be more accurate. The first time Kei met him, he was anxiously scrubbing ink off his forearm at his kitchen sink, and when he saw Kei, his eyes grew so big Kei thought for a second that he was the stranger intruding on his apartment. 

If he's cute, he's cute like a deer in the headlights, the kind of cute that makes you slam your foot on the brakes, that can paralyze you with fear and worry if you aren't careful. But Kei doesn't think that's what cute means at all.

Akiteru had been annoying about it, at least. He'd walked in on Kei having a civil conversation with a stranger and treated it like he'd walked in on Kei making out with someone against the kitchen sink. Thinking about it, Kei not learning his name must have been his subconscious being spiteful. Still, if even Kei did treat him differently from the other people Akiteru invited over, it was only that. "Vulnerable." He enjoys getting people riled up, not making them cry. That's always been more trouble than it's worth.

"Tsukishima-san!" the boy greets him, clumsily shoving his cell phone into the pocket of his jeans. "I'm glad you're here! Tsukishima-sensei isn't answering his phone, and-"

Kei moves past him, starts unlocking the door once he backs out of his way, completely unfazed. "Didn't Akiteru-nii text you? One of his college friends came to town and they're having lunch. You were supposed to come later."

"Oh, uh..." Kei shoves open the door, holds it open for the person behind him for just a second before he takes off his shoes and leaves them in the entryway. "I didn't get anything."

Leave it to Akiteru to forget. He shouldn't have scheduled something on his assistant's first day, anyway, no matter how short his friend's stay would be. Not that he takes the things Kei says to heart. "He should be back in an hour or so. You can wait here."

"Thank you, Tsukishima-san!" he says, beaming at him, and Kei looks away, ducking out of the room after saying something about changing his clothes.

When Kei comes back, he sees him sitting awkwardly at his and Akiteru's too-small kitchen table, looking absentmindedly at his phone. For a second, Kei's compelled to ask him if he needs anything, but he remembers how he likes to talk and decides against it, moving to his living room and turning on the monkey documentary he recorded earlier. Right as he's about to get absorbed into the television, he hears shifting at his side.

"You're watching the nature channel? I didn't know you'd like things like this!" he says, smiling at Kei, who only nods in response. "You know, I read a manga about monkeys once! Actually, it was about a man who worked at a zoo whose girlfriend wouldn't marry him because he worked at a zoo. I guess that makes sense, since it's kind of a weird job, but it messed up his self-esteem. Anyway, there was a monkey in it, and he helped him work out his problems - oh, also, he could talk to animals! So, uh..." He's silent for a second, and Kei reaches for the remote. "Monkeys are cool."

Kei pauses the program and looks at the person sitting next to him, who's biting his lip and whose cheeks are tinged slightly pink. Kei would be embarrassed, too. He wonders what's wrong with him, if he's always like this or uncomfortable right now, but maybe it's not wrong if it's something like this that makes him stand out. That he's so odd that Kei can't make fun of him for what he just said or let those words hang there. He's the kind of person you're scared will get knocked over by a gust of wind, but that isn't completely a bad thing, if compels people the way Kei is compelled right now. "I never heard of that," Kei says.

"Oh, uh, it... didn't run that long. Or in a popular magazine. I liked it, though!" He forces a laugh. "But it's not that interesting, you didn't have to-"

"It's fine." He... does like to talk, anyway. Indulging him for now isn't that big of an issue, since Akiteru is due any minute. "You can tell me about it, if you want."

He hesitates for a second, but eventually he does, and Kei realizes just how much he has to say. Something about another person working at the zoo who has a crush on him, which is funny because then wouldn't both of them be working at the zoo, who would make the money? Something about how the romance wasn't well executed which was why it got axed, because the only other thing the manga had was the talking animals, which also wasn't executed well either. How that doesn't matter anywhere near as much in action or adventure manga because most of the audience isn't there for that anyway. It's about the quality of the adventure and the fights and the character arcs and-

Kei's never cared about manga more than sometimes picking up the monthly magazines his brother subscribes to and following the occasional series that pique his interest, and it isn't as if having this conversation (if you can call it that, one-sided as it is) suddenly makes him care. Still, there's something about the way he speaks that makes Kei not want him to stop. Akiteru loves manga, but the way this boy loves manga is of a completely different kind, something you can read in the way he looks when he's thinking about it but can't quite describe. The way all his vulnerability disappears when he speaks like this is.... something, when you see it.

Kei's contemplating this and nodding and maybe not listening when the sound of keys jingling by the apartment door snaps both of them out of it. "Ah, Tsukishima-sensei's here. Sorry I spoke too much."

"You shouldn't call him that," Kei says, considering standing up to get the door for his brother and deciding against it. He should probably clear the living room so Akiteru doesn't see him with his assistant, but he's too lazy to stand up, and Akiteru always finds something to tease him about, anyway.

"Eh?"

"Sensei. He'll be annoying about it. Just use '-san.'" Akiteru still hasn't gotten over the days Kei used to worship the ground he walked on, and that was years ago. Whenever Kei says something nice to him, he has to spend time thinking about how to phrase it a way that Akiteru won't be able to use against him when he makes a sarcastic jab at his expense. Of course having someone as earnest as the boy next to him around will definitely make Akiteru annoying, but Kei'd like to minimize it as much as possible.

"But I can't call both of you Tsukishima-san..." He bites his lip, and grins in a way Kei hasn't seen before. "Ah, then.... I'll stop if I can call you Tsukki."

Kei doesn't tell him not to.

* * *

Later, after he's gone home on the last train, Kei swallows his pride and asks Akiteru what his name is. After he finishes making fun of Kei, Akiteru finally says, "It's Yamaguchi Tadashi."

Yamaguchi. He was close, then, before. At least now he knows, even if Akiteru did react exactly the way he thought he would. "Thanks," he says, and he's about to go to his room when Akiteru stops him.

"Ah, wait. Just so you know, it's Tadashi with the kanji for 'loyalty.' Just like Hachiko. That's kind of cute, right?" Akiteru smiles the kind of shit-eating grin that makes Kei scowl, and he decides not to grace him with a response, turning back to leave.

But later, when Kei's alone in his room, Akiteru's terrible face the farthest image from his mind, he can't help but think to himself that maybe it is kind of cute, the Hachiko thing.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it! the story hasn't really started yet, but it's getting there. sorry about the self-indulgence, but it's tsukkiyama day, and honestly? what better day to be self indulgent.
> 
> also, random note, this is basically an ode to those one volume five-chapter romance manga, so that's why i'm formatting it this way. like a weird premise told in a short and sweet way with mini character arcs? My Kink
> 
> thanks for reading! i'd appreciate if you left a comment, but don't feel obligated. hit me up on [tumblr](https://inspireigen.tumblr.com) if you want!


End file.
